ellis



(No Model.) I

A. O. ELLIS.

GAR COUPLING.

Patented'Sept. 25, 1883.

' UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE."

ALDRIDGEO, ELLIS, OF BIRMINGHAM, 'MIGH., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HORACE A. RANDALL AND GEORGE F. RANDALL, BOTH OF SAME PLACE.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 285,473, dated September 25, 1883. Application filed hlay 10, 1883. (No model.)

.To aZZ whom'it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALDRIDGE O. ELLIs, of

Birmingham, in the county of Oakland and State of Michigan, have invented new, and

useful Improvements in Car-Couplings; and I 7 devices for coupling railway-cars together,

, link is entirely avoided.

bymeans of which the ordinary link-and-pin coupling now so generally employed may be utilized and converted into a coupling wherein the necessity of the operator entering between the cars for the purpose of guidingthe 'It is a fact notorious to all that many lives and limbs are sacrificed every year from the necessity, in the use'of the ordinary link and pin, for the operator to enter between the cars, when being coupled into a train, to guide the link of one into the mouth of the drawbar of the adjacent car; and it is equally notorious that a large number of patents have ling draw-bars and other devices designed to accomplish the same result which I have in view in the present application; but all or nearly all of the devices, if adopted, would compel the railroad companies to substitute the new for the present draw-bars, links, and pins. Hence the object of the present invention is to provide means of safety to the operator, and at the same time avoid the necessity. on the part of the railroad companies of throwing away their present devices and adopting newo'nes; This I accomplish by supporting the front end of the ordinary linkand-pin draw-bar in a stirrup or gate having a vertical play in the dead wood, and operated by levers projecting from said gate to either side of the car, so that, as the cars come together for the purpose of coupling, if the operator sees that the link in the one draw-bar will not enter the'mouth of the draw-bar upon the adjacent car, but will pass below, 1 he can by the use of the one or the other of the levers elevate the draw-bar carrying the link until the link will enter as the cars come together.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improvement as attached car-frame. I

A represents the draw-bar, B the link, and

O the pin, all of the usual form of construction andoperation, said draw-bar being secured at its rear end and provided with buffer-springs in the usual way.

D rep resents a stirrup or a sashgate, th rough which the draw-bar passes, and which supports the front end of said draw-bar whenever it is desired to adjust the same to allow to one end of a car, and Fig. 2 is a reversed '7 plan view of the draw-bar and parts of the the link to enter the mouth of the draw-bar I upon the adjacent car. The upper cross-bar of this gate has centrally secured thereto the inner ends of the levers E, pivotally supported at a, and engaging by means of. slots with the central bolt, 11, which passes through the top bar of the sash. These levers project toward the sides of the car sufficientlyfar to enable theoperator to stand outside the car and guide the bed of the draw-bar carrying with cars of different heights, and to guide the overhanging and downwardlyhanging link into the adjacent draw-bar. v

I am aware of Patents N0. 88, 44.0, of 1869,

.and No. 134,414, of 1872, and the constructions therein set forth are not sought to be covered in" this application.

What I claim as'new is The'car-coupling herein described, consisting of'the draw-bar A, the single gate D, work ing in vertical guides and embracing and supporting the draw-bar, the levers E, pivoted at a, upon either side of the draw-bar, to the endv of the car, and connected to the said gate by a slot-and-pin connection, all combined and arranged to serve in relation to the link and pin, whereby the draw-bar may be manipulated from either side of the car, as and for the purpose set forth.

ALDRIDGE O. ELLIS. Witnesses:

H. S. SPRAGUE, E.'SOULLY. 

